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Elephant seal encounter

Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 9.9C Min. 4.5C Reset 7.7C Rain 1.9mm
MARINE LIFE: 1 immature Bald Eagle today and only 1 pair of Geese. A very interesting morning! Although it is a policy not to interfere with the wildlife, today we did step in and avert what we thought would have been death to a small Elephant Seal. There was a great ruckus out in front of the boat house,looking out I could see the largest Elephant Seal moving the upper part of his body back and forth with what seemed determined force. Since I could see him only when he reared up, had to go out to see what all the fuss was about.At first it appeared we were witnessing an amourous encounter ! however it did not take long to realize such was not the case. This great creature had the smallest elephant seal pinned down on the concrete against the step and was pummeling it for all it’s worth totally unconcerned with it’s squeals and efforts to get away. Our first instinct was to jump up and down, wave and shout, which we did, unfortunately and somewhat predictably all we managed to do was further antagonize the big fellow and he lunged towards us, luckily we ‘encouraged’ him to back off by waving a couple of towels from the tank room as close to his head as we dared.I’m sure I read more into the relief that seemed to show in the big watery eyes of the now rescued seal but it moved toward us and we were able to inspect the bloody scrapes which looked superficial, I was more concerned that there might be internal injuries.We kept an eye on the little fellow and by nightfall it had moved up to the grass just below the front porch. I would have let it in the basement to re-cooperate…but that would be ridiculous… right.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:34 PM